Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

DVAC bound by RTI Act: court

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the State Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) to provide information sought from it by two applicants under the Right to Information Act. Failure to do so would attract further action by the Tamil Nadu Information Commission (TNIC).

R. Karthikeyan had sought information on the number of police officers caught in DVAC raids.

He wanted a list of their names, designations and addresses along with the amount recovered from each officer, and details of departmental action and prosecution launched against them.

In a reply dated February 2, 2009, the DVAC had informed the applicant that it was exempt from the purview of the RTI Act.

V. Madhav had sought details from DVAC about the number of investigations completed and convictions secured from 2003-2004 to 2007-2008.

He had also sought a list of names of persons convicted in the last five years. The Directorate had declined to provide the information.

Both applicants moved the TNIC, which directed the DVAC separately to furnish the information. Challenging the two orders, the Superintendent of Police, Central Range, DVAC, Chennai, filed the writ petitions.

Dismissing the petitions, Justice K. Chandru said he was not inclined to go into the efficacy of exemption given to the DVAC from the RTI Act. But, as rightly pointed out by the TNIC, if some organisations operated in spheres such as intelligence and security, in those areas exemptions could be valid.

But, when the same organisations dealt with corruption cases involving public servants, then exemption under Section 24 (4) of the RTI Act could not be taken advantage of since the proviso to the provision clearly stated that information pertaining to allegations of corruption and human rights violations should not be excluded under the sub-section.

Therefore, notwithstanding the exemption obtained by the DVAC, any information relating to allegations of corruption could not be excluded from public access. The information sought was statistical information regarding the number of cases filed, their success rate and post-conviction or post-trial action against such officers.

“The… public are entitled to know the officers who are facing charge of corruption as well as conviction or acquittal obtained by them as well as the result of departmental action initiated by the government.” The stand taken by the DVAC could not be countenanced by the court.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Cases booked
Unauthorised travel agents apprehended
Compensation for crop loss
Stalin inaugurates building of cooperative credit society
Special trains for Pongal
Mathematics the basis for science and technology, says Barnala
Petition to drop land acquisition for Korukkupet overbridge allowed
Not our duty to worry about trends, says Ilaiyaraja
Packaged drinking water unit sealed
Burglar eats, makes merry; held later
Stir hits traffic
Tight security for festival
Vijay Amritraj, Digvijay Singh honoured
Rural tradition, urban elegance
How students learn from past for examination
Financial assistance for transgenders
IOCL to pay relief
BJP demands dismissal of Ministers
DVAC bound by RTI Act: court
High Court Judge retires
Videocon chief meets Stalin
CAT training for Adi-Dravidars
Chennai today

Copyright © 2010, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu